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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Visit to Sacramento Zoo

Near record-breaking temperatures today—78°F this afternoon. Stunning fall weather, so we decided to go to the Sacramento Zoo. It’s located next to Land Park, probably the most beautiful park in the entire Sacramento metro area. Large old trees, lawns, ponds; tranquil, elegant and stately. As we walked from our car through the park, leaves were fluttering from the towering old trees, rustling merrily as the wind chased them along the walkways. Bursts of yellow and red foliage against the blue sky. The laughter of children and the chirping of birds. A picture postcard of a day.

I love zoos not only for the animals but also for the plants and landscaping. Every zoo I’ve ever been to has interesting plants. The Sacramento Zoo is not exception. In fact, it has a lot of mature bamboo in many different places. Unfortunately, as is often the case in zoos, plants are either labeled sparsely or not at all.

I was able to recognize black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra), which is easy to do because the culms are, well, black. The bamboo with the thickest culms is, I believe, either Phyllostachys vivax or Phyllostachys bambusoides. The bamboo with the compressed internodes is golden bamboo, Phyllostachys aurea—a misnomer if ever there was one because it is almost always green instead of golden.

But I don’t want this post to be a tutorial of all the plants I saw at the zoo, but rather a collection of images that hopefully will brighten your day like going to the zoo today brightened mine.